User Reviews

Overall Rating:

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Submitted by
danz1906
a AudioPhile

Date Reviewed: April 17, 2010

Bottom Line:

The Linn Av 5140 is a great speaker for Music and movies. The speakers have a warm sound,but with
good detail! The bass is extended and tight. I started with a pair of AV5140 for 2ch , then added the Av
5120 center channel. Now I have a Full AV51 passive system with AV5140s in the Front and rear.

The 5140s are great speakers that require a bit of attention. I write that because out-of-the-box they can sound very bad, closed-in and rather dead. Like the Keilidhs they replaced, they have to be broken in for 30-40 hours before the tweeters are ready to sing. Also, contrary to Linn's manual, I have found them to be very sensitive to room placement. Linn recommends 6 inches from the wall, but in my room that yielded boomy bass and a reticent sound that was lifeless. After some experimentation, I found they really bloomed when brought out into the room 12 inches with a slight, half-inch, toe-in and about six feet of separation. It seems likely that some of the negative posts may be directly related to insufficent break-in and placement. For power they want (and deserve) at least a single amp that offers some real current. A thin sounding Japanese receiver would be a very poor choice. I use a McIntosh MC7150 that delivers 58 amperes and it is a great match. Properly placed, these speakers are remarkable for both video and audio applications. They are very clean, perhaps a bit lean, but they can be delicate on a small ensemble or solo vocalist one moment, and have a pounding impact with a video the next minute.
I haven't heard the Espeks that have replaced the 5140s, but highly recommend these in the used market. Try them with Linn's relatively inexpensive K400 wire.
Oh, and the cherry finish is beautiful and very wife friendly!

These are my first mid/hi-fi speaker I've owned. They are the cherry finish with upgraded drivers and PO installed the Keltik bases on them.
Really solid. Monolithic and beautiful - definately rates high on the spouse-factor :)

Not much can be said than what other reviewers have posted already. Very natural sound and awesome soundstage.
Will play very loud without distortion on the right gear.
Exceptional bass (30hz)
Voices sound incredible - especially female.

I have just changed to these speakers from Active Ninkas and am very pleased with the improvement. They are running passive at the moment, bi-amped with 2 x LK140. Even passive they are a great improvement over the Ninkas in active mode. I have also ordered the ceramic stands and will report back when I have installed these. In the long term I intend to make these active.

While I submitted a review over 1 year ago I felt the need to re-visit the issue. I have made some additional changes in my source, cables and drivers and wanted to report the results. My 5140's are active with 400 Aragon watts per driver @ 4 ohms.
Driver Change: I updated my 5140's to the Espek drivers and really needed to wait the 40 some odd hours to break them in before assessing the results. The new drivers change basic characteristics of the speaker that some will appreciate and others may not.
To my ears there is significant improvement. Some of the directional harshness of the old tweeters is gone. In its place is smoother more difuse sound. Some may hear this as a loss of high end signal. I hear it as more realistic and pleasurable to listen to.
At the low end there is unquestionably deeper, better defined, more powerful sound. The mids offer more detail than before.
The entire concept of image and soundstage have always been the knock on these speakers. Going active made a difference in these areas. The Espek upgrade moves them up several notches.
Source Change: from a Pioneer Elite DV-05 to a Proceed PMDT
Interconnect Change: digital interconnect from standard Tributaries audio-video to Tributaries Silver
I was most impressed that the speakers continued to reflect improvements each step of the way. This had demonstrated that the capabilities of the speakers were waiting to be fulfilled with better source equipment.
My soundstage is huge and imaging is now totally different. I was giving my 10 yr old a lesson on what a 3 dimensional soundstage and imaging were and he could hear it all!
I was listening to some older CD's last night and was hearing details on Special EFX that drew me into hearing 6 tracks instead of 1. Pines (Fountains) of Rome was simply as it should be; a dynamic tour de force.
So my advice is to stick with these speakers and try some of the upgrades. You might find the answers to what you were listening for.